Three Threes: The Return

So after we started this year’s fundraiser, something kinda odd happened.

We got a few e-mails and comments that we weren’t expecting. Stuff like this:

“Last year I happened to donate after the $0.33 sub-lottery was announced. That has primed me to delay my donation this year until late into the fundraiser, to ensure I don’t unintentionally disqualify myself from any surprises.”

This is calling back to last year, where we threw in a special lottery for folks who donated and included .33 at the end of their donation. At the time, it was the only way we had of tracking who might be interested, due to the limited nature of the donation page.

Honestly, I didn’t intend to do anything similar this year.

Still, people were obviously expecting it, as shown by some of the donations:

So I decided to do something special for the fundraiser this year too.

Here’s a video explaining it.

God, I really do have an overwhelmingly big beard, don’t I?

Here’s a few more details:

Three complete sets of Cealdish Coins.

These sets of coins include the alternate versions of both the drab and the talent, as well as what is very likely to be version 2 of the drab.

One of these is currently up for auction going for over $11,000. Let’s just paste in the description from the auction, shall we?

This is a 10 karat gold ring redeemable for one (1) favor from Patrick Rothfuss.

Possible uses for the favor include:

Asking Pat to insert your name/likeness into a future book or story.
Asking Pat’s assistance wooing the object of your affection, preferably under a balcony at night.
Asking Pat to read & critique your unpublished manuscript (or your published one, if you want.)
Asking Pat give a reading/workshop at your local library or University.
Asking Pat to give a reading/workshop at your house.
Asking Pat to give a reading/workshop in your bedroom.
Asking Pat to help you move a particularly heavy couch.
Asking Pat to follow you on twitter and post kitten pictures to you.

This favor has no expiration date. It can be traded, transferred, sold, or lost. In essence, the ring *is* the favor. You give the ring back when you cash in your favor. So if you lose it, you’ve kinda fucked yourself.

The nature of this favor is fairly open-ended, though some negotiation may be necessary depending on the nature of the favor. Certain ethical or legal restrictions may apply (though not as many as you might expect.) Under no circumstances will Patrick dance for you. Carnal favors must be approved by Pat’s girlfriend in advance. If you won this favor in the auction, and for any reason Pat cannot fulfill his obligation to you, he will personally refund your winning bid in exchange for the ring.

Now, can I be honest with you for a moment?

Giving out open-ended favors like this is kind of a stupid thing for me to do. I’ve had many people tell me so. But I’m not an idiot. I’m perfectly aware that there’s a high potential for things going catastrophically wrong.

Why do I keep giving them out then?

Mostly because I love Heifer International. I love the work they do. I love the thought of giving families the means to make their lives better. I love the thought of parents being able to feed their children.

If I can make that happen by doing something kinda stupid? Well. I’ve been stupid before for worse reasons than this.

But here’s the thing. Simple statistics say that I’m going to get burned on this whole open-ended favor deal eventually. When that happens, I’m probably going to stop doing it. That means if you want a chance to win one of these, I’d move on it now, because it might not be happening again next year. Or ever again.

* * *

These three items I’m putting into the lottery are only of real interest to my fans. So we’ve added a new question on the donation page, asking if you’d like to be eligible for them.

If you donate now, we’ll include your entire donation history into the total for this lottery. We know a bunch of you have kicked in already, so if you kick in a again and ask to be included, we’ll make sure *all* your donations count toward this drawing.

8:30 PM – five hours after posting this blog, we’ve raised another $25,000.

That’s enough to purchase biogas stoves for 25 villages.

“For most families in the places where Heifer International works, cooking usually means gathering firewood by hand, which often depletes the soil and robs the environment of its trees. In addition, smoke inhalation in poorly ventilated homes often leads to chronic lung and eye diseases.

A biogas stove is a better option. It runs off methane gas captured from animal waste, and burns cleanly, reliably and efficiently. This is not only better for the environment, it is more sustainable, and healthier for families feeding their children.”

I’m so happy. This day didn’t start off that great for me, but y’all have completely turned it around….

11:30 PM – Eight hours after posting this blog, we’ve raised $38,000.

That’s enough to supply clean water for 125 communities.

Many places where Heifer works, homes lack running water, and some families don’t even have a well nearby. Instead, they spend a lot of time each day fetching water. This is often a chore left to children — especially girls — leaving them no time for school. Without a good education, those children have little hope for good jobs in the future.

Heifer helps families and communities install irrigation pumps, usually muscle-powered treadle pumps that are easy to maintain and repair. Heifer also provides education in terms of water conservation and sanitation, improving community health and making local farms and gardens more efficient *and* productive.

10:30 AM – 18 hours after posting this blog, we’ve raised $47,000.

That’s enough to train and equip 235 Community Animal Health Workers.

In many countries, access to veterinary care is limited. So in addition to giving people livestock, Heifer International trains Animal Health Workers. Participants receive training in animal health, breeding, and nutrition as well as tools such as thermometers, stethoscopes, disinfectants, medicine for animals, and more.

This training and equipment gives a person the ability to support themselves in a lifelong career. What’s more, the presence of an animal health worker improves an entire community with healthier animals, more successful farms, and better education about sanitation and disease.

24 hours after posting, we’ve raised 60,000 dollars.

I’m not going to keep tracking the progress here. You can check that out on the main Worldbuilders page. I will say that right now our total stands at $195,000, which is really incredible, given that we’re not even two weeks into the fundraiser.

That’s enough for 1600 goats and the training to care for them.

It’s enough for 6,500 hives of honeybees that will improve crop yields and produce honey.

Enough to provide 700 families with enough livestock, materials, and training that they can earn enough money to send their children to school.

Oooh! I do hope you don’t get burned, that’s so exciting! My boyfriend does not seem as excited about this as me, and said “Do you think he’d clean our bathroom? Because it doesn’t seem either of us is going to any time soon”. I promise I’d make you do no such thing.

Again, thank you for organising all of this and doing such great things for Heifer.

So what size are the rings? Since I’ve lost weight my wedding band keeps slipping off, so maybe I could wear one of these instead. When the “ring” came out in place of the golden ticket I did lust after it with a deep and abiding passion.

Darn it! I missed the drop down box for including oneself in the awesome things draw when I donated earlier. Le Sigh. Will have to donate again after pay day. And cross my fingers for luck in the draw!

You are so generous! So many of these prizes are so unique and thoughtful! So much awesomeness in one place! I didn’t know about last year’s fundraiser until it was too late, and this year’s delivery for prizes I will be in address limbo due to our move so I’ll have to contribute through Tinker’s Packs :) I hope people will share pics of their prizes when they get them. It would be cool to see their faces when they see what they’ve won.

I’m getting a Gollem feel for that ring. It has so much potential, though I really hope whoever wins doesn’t abuse it and ruin for the future. I think we should all be committed to making such awesome favors, Pat WANTS to do it more often. I think it’d be an awesome gift for my girlfriend when she comes back home from basic training. I REALLY want to make her a cloak like the one Fela gave Kvothe but this would blow that right out of the water.

Also, I love you all for what you do and what you put into this. You are amazing people. Please feel free to imagine me hugging you.

From what I remember, these coins represent the currency from about 600 years prior to the story in the Kingkiller Chronicles. There are whispers of “newer generations” of these coins coming up in the future. It may be that the newer ones fit into boots better.

I choose to ignore the possibility that you are speaking metaphorically.

My kids watched the video with me and asked if I would want a ring. I said that it would be neat and asked them what they would do with one. My 7 year old said, “Ask Patrick Rothfuss to play PlayStation with me.”
Which is astonishingly close to what I would want. I’d totally ask if our families could all have a day together. Playing games, letting kids run around, roasting s’mores. Just hanging out.
We are apparently a very boring family.

I would ask to be in a book, if I were to win, but, according to my friends, I am already the main character of The Kingkiller Chronicles, but I may ask for a part if it were to be made into a movie/series!

Wow three rings! I was hesitant to donate as being broke is kinda my life story. But this pushed me over the edge. I am saving up and going to donate as much as I can before deadline. I have never even heard of an author doing anything like this for his fans. Coolest person of the year has now been named. Thank you very much Mr. Rothfuss

Question! Last year, there was a default amount option of $500 (amount for one Heifer); this year the highest default amount is $250. I know there’s a custom amount field, but the higher non-custom amount was what convinced me to donate more last year. Is there a reason this has decreased?

12k+ is a bit too rich for me, but three rings in the lottery are super awesome, so I donated now. I really hope that you’ll defy statistics and that you only get reasonable requests from people, ideally ones that would make for cool blog posts ;)

Good call Chanelle, I know my company does match and that they acknowledge Worldbuilders and Heifer (they gave everyone 10 bucks to donate recently and I put it toward Worldbuilders), now I just need to look in to how to donate through Worldbuilders and still get the match.

Hey Pat/Team!
I paid with PayPal (awesome that you have it now!), but both times I donated this happend:
in the moment I clicked on “paying with paypal” it left the page to go to paypal, and I did not get a confirmation, that the options I chose (e.g. “books only” and “yes I want Pat’s three threes”) were taken into consideration.
Is there any way for me (other people) to check the “settings” and/or change them? In the “manage your donations”-page I could not find such a thing…
(sorry for my bad english, it’s 1am and I just came home from work ;))

I would ask Pat to appear as a high wizard of great importance in a LARP game if I won the ring. Give him a staff of power and a cloak (and my husband would hand-carve the staff to make it epic) and have him speak in that booming bearded voice of his. Awesome.

That said – will we ever find out what the already in circulation rings have been exchanged for?

I don’t think you really have much to worry about with the favors – you can always say NO. If I won one of your rings I would just lord it over people and flash it around like with a Superbowl ring. I wouldn’t be able to wear it as I don’t have a beefy 13.5 finger, or thumb for that matter, but it would still be cool.

I’m glad that favor rings are going into the lottery. Favors ought to be given or won, not bought.

I know that they are extremely valuable and that they might attract more money in the auction, but there is a proper way to some things. So thank you, Pat et al., for doing this. The favor ring being in only the auction had been niggling at the back of my mind. (I will try to completely ignore the fact that there should only be two rings in the lottery — while one and three individually are both traditional, four total is a little less so.)

I love the idea of the favor rings. It’s not only for a good cause, but even if things go wrong, well, at least it will most likely be a fantastic and fabulous disaster.

I am glad you are doing this, but now sad I donated fully the first day it opened. This is the second year in a row I have been too forthcoming with my donation and missed out on the extra stuff. How about a special incentive for the people that donated immediately? Throw some of us a bone! Plus, it will help counteract the now learned (for some of us) behavior of waiting till the last second to donate. I guess I am the slow learner.

Thank you! I do have a little extra now thanks to the falling gas prices. Something strangely satisfying about taking the money saved from falling gas prices and putting it into the fight against hunger.

I’m pretty poor, but my wife and I have decided to refrain from ordering any takeout this month and put the resultant savings into Worldbuilders. I always forgot to donate in past years, but not this time!

Oh god….here I am…all melting inside from just finishing The Slow Regard of Silent Things. I was already a goner and then there you were writing an Author’s Endnote, talking about broken things…sigh. And NOW! there are 3 rings up for grabs. My favor would be sitting beside you while you read The Slow Regard of Silent Things to me. I have never been a fan girl, never. Oh I love me a Karl Urban or Patrick Stewart, but, you! Dude you are just fucking awesome.

I haven’t been holding off on a donation because I was expecting something extra cool, but because the website doesn’t seem to want to accept the card for my bank account here in France. I could use my US account, but then stuff will get mailed to my mother’s house if I win something and it might be a year or longer before I can claim it.

Maybe that will be my favor, Pat bring me the rest of my stuff from my mother’s house to my house in France. :)

I can’t think of anything I would ask as a favor if I won a ring… That kinda makes me sad, that I’m so boring I can’t even think of an epic adventure – or even just a mundane adventure – featuring one of my favorite authors/people. I mean, that’s really pathetic.
On the other hand, there are a kajillion awesome things also in the lottery, so that is exciting and sufficient to distract me from self-loathing.

I’ve been thinking about the favour rings and what I’d do if I won one. So far I’m leaning towards having Pat skype in and play a character in our D&D game that we have every week. Cashing it in for a full set of Pat Rothfus books, all signed is coming a close second.

I sincerely hope that your fans are considerate and you never have to deal with malicious wishes. That said, if something happened to make you not give out any more favor rings, would the old rings still be valid? Do people need to hurry to use their wishes before some idiot ruins it for everyone? Or would the previously bequeathed rings just be restricted to particularly tame favors, or ones you yourself suggested (like critiquing an unpublished manuscript)? It’s sad to imagine someone losing a favor they’d been saving for something important.

First of all, such a favor is not just from Pat, but from all of humanity. A request to publish book three before it is ready will detract from its quality, and many fans would be quite upset with any individual who contributed to that. Certain issues with continuity may even reduce the perceived quality of the first two books.

Secondly, Pat mentions a fear of being burned. I imagine a component of being burned has to do with negotiating the favor with people who would cause harm to others with what they wish for, such as this.

Lastly, there is an alternate option. It is explicitly stated that beta readership is an available option for cashing in the favor ring. If you are that desperate for book three, this solution would work better for everyone.

I’d like to second Corrag’s comment. I know you want to see the third book – we all do, but great writing is like great cooking: it takes time to simmer, to let the flavors melt together, a few trusted people tasting it, adding (or taking away) a few spices then letting it simmer a while longer. Hunger adds to the flavor and makes the meal all the more memorable.

I’m pretty sure I managed to donate properly there.
I can’t see the sofa thing working out (what with me being in Ireland and all), but there’s always the kitten pictures. I’d kinda prefer a slow loris or two in the mix, but oh well.
Is fhearr fheuchainn na bhith san duil.

Added a flock of chicks to go with the goat we already donated just to have the opportunity for a favor from Pat (such a brave man!) Hubs suggested that if we win, we should request that Pat takes a photo of us for our 10th anniversary. Now that I think about it, that would be fitting, given that we initially bonded over our mutual love of another book, Dune. Literacy, keeping our relationship strong since 2004…

I have to wait til December 3rd to donate (SSD recipient) but I’m so in after that! I didn’t win anything last year, but I won the Toothless plushie in the Wayward raffle, so I’m primed for winning now……

I’ve donated already, in the amount that I am comfortable giving; I don’t feel well able to duplicate it financially right now. I’d certainly hope that the default option for prior givers is yes, as I’d very much like a chance to trade a favor to become a beta reader. However, it’s not entirely clear to me if that is the case.

By default, do donors who donated before the Three Threes question appeared default to Yes or to No?

Hey Pat, just a smidgen of feedback on the timing of things this year. I’m one that hasn’t donated yet. I have every intention of doing so. One thing slowing me down is a resistance to the trend of starting the “holiday season” earlier every year, or so it seems. I realize this may not make any sense as an excuse for procrastination in donating to a charity, but that’s the overcompensating curmudgeon in me – not wanting Christmas to start 4 nanoseconds after the last bite of turkey is swallowed.

Conversely and perhaps perversely, I am glad that you’ve decided to end the fundraiser earlier this year. Having it run past New Years in previous years made the waiting hard somehow. And I’m sure it was tough on your staff over the holidays, so it’s nice that they’ll have this wrapped up sooner this year. But it’s ending *pretty* early – like well before procrastinators such as myself are typically ready to get their shit together and make charitable donations in lieu of gifts for certain friends/family.

I will get my shit together soon enough to donate. My intention is not to criticize or whinge or complain. I guess I’m just saying you might miss out on donations from serious procrastinators, especially those who are familiar with the fundraiser running well into the next year. But I hope I’m wrong and this year we knock it outta the ballpark.

I really love that you’re doing this, and I hope no one messes it up, but I can’t think of anything as valuable as A Favor From Pat. I mean, yes, it could be cashed in for a number of really awesome things, but. As it stands? An undefined act with (nearly) limitless possibility? It is truly priceless. It holds value beyond anything that can be defined.